Molecular Sieves for the Separation of Hydrogen Isotopes.

Stable molecular hydrogen isotopes, D and T, are both scarce and essential in several energy, industrial, and large-scale fundamental research applications. Due to the chemical similarity of these isotopes, their extraction and purification from hydrogen has relied for decades on expensive and energy-demanding processes. However, factoring in the phenomenon of quantum sieving could provide a new route for these separations.

Zeolites for CO-CO-O Separation to Obtain CO-Neutral Fuels.

Carbon dioxide release has become an important global issue due to the significant and continuous rise in atmospheric CO concentrations and the depletion of carbon-based energy resources. Plasmolysis is a very energy-efficient process for reintroducing CO into energy and chemical cycles by converting CO into CO and O utilizing renewable electricity. The bottleneck of the process is that CO remains mixed with O and residual CO.

On the molecular mechanisms for the H/CO separation performance of zeolite imidazolate framework two-layered membranes.

Double-layered zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) membranes were fabricated inside polyimide P84 hollow fibers by a step-synthesis conducted by microfluidic technology and applied to pre-combustion gas separation. Our hypothesis, based on the information provided by a combination of molecular simulation and experiments, is that a CO adsorption reduction on the surface of the ZIF-9 would enhance the molecular sieving effect of this ZIF-9 layer and therefore the selectivity in the H/CO mixture separation of the entire membrane. This reduction would be achieved by means of a less-CO-adsorptive methylimidazolate-based ZIF-67 or ZIF-8 layer coating the ZIF-9.